ART-PREVIEW: Art/Nature II
Natural history Museums have always been places where artists were intensively involved in the study of nature. Alongside travelling researchers, artists have contributed to recording and depicting the history of life on earth. They were part of the graphic documentation of the collections as well as the presentation of nature within an exhibition space.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Museum für Naturkunde Berlin Archive
“Art/Nature” is an international pilot project initiated by the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin and the German Federal Cultural Foundation, inviting artists to create new works by exploring a natural history museum. The project aims to experimentally transcend communicative barriers between the domain of contemporary art and the natural history museum, generating fresh perspectives on nature, scientific objects and on museum culture. The second intervention of “Art/Nature” features new works by Fernando Bryce and the radio art duo Serotonin. Both interventions focus on the Museum’s history and Collections around 1900. Fernando Bryce while conducting his research in the museum, Bryce came across some labels which had once been attached to objects, and cabinets. In combining these materials with historical inventories he created a large-format series of pen-and-ink drawings and screen prints. “Paradoxurus adustus” pays homage to largely neglected “museum things”, and visually communicates how natural history seeks to understand the world. In his second series Bryce applies his technique of translating historical texts and images into pen-and-ink drawings, while enlarging and rearranging the material. Based upon expedition reports, newspaper articles, scientific publications, and popular science journals, “Auf frischer Tat” looks at the representation of natural science in early 20th Century media. With “Parcours dans la mer de ciel. A parcours through the ocean of heaven. Or: the Levitite” the audio art duo Serotonin (Marie-Luise Goerke and Matthias Pusch), has created a five-part intervention comprising five acoustic dioramas to comment on the history of research and collecting at the Museum für Naturkunde. The five exhibits broach complex topics such as crossing boundaries, defining oneself through the other, and the origins of national identity.
Info:Head of project: Anita Hermannstädter, Curator for “Parcours dans la mer de ciel. A parcours through the ocean of heaven. Or: the Levitite”: Gaby Hartel, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Invalidenstraße 43, Berlin, Duration: 19/7-16/10/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Fri 9:30-18:00, Sat-Sun 10:00-18:00, http://kunst.mfn-berlin.de
